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/sci/ - Science & Math

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6961716 No.6961716 [Reply] [Original]

/sci/ Where do I begin with programming? I keep trying to dive in, but the amount of choices are overwhelming and I am paralyzed by my ignorance.

Where do I get into it with the basics, I have no formal education as an adult in computers. I need something that doesn't over-rely on the assumption you know the name of everything already. I had to look up what command prompt and terminals were, not because I hadn't used them, but because I was only familiar with them from using the keyboard shortcuts. Does a book this basic exist? I'm not trying to be ignorant and maybe I should just take a class on it, but I want to get started right away. I tried doing 'LearnCtheHardWay' and couldn't get myself set up to follow along, my Mom teaches C programming (why I chose it to start) and when I can go out and visit her she lets me use her system to practice on, but really doesn't have time to help me right now as she travels a lot.

How is this other book by the same author? I've seen it get recommended before. I feel so lost /sci/, I just want to get started and stop sitting on my ass. I've been struggling to work through the books I checked out, borrowed a whole stack of texts on the subject, but it feels like I'm hitting an accelerator on a car in park.

>> No.6961724

Here is a freeish version of Python the Hard Way
http://learnpythonthehardway.org/book/

You can learn from this

>> No.6961732

> I keep trying to dive in, but the amount of choices are overwhelming and I am paralyzed by my ignorance.
i have the same problem too. just make a decision and stick with it. languages and frameworks come and go (and the basic ideas between them are the same) so you shouldn't stress about it
>learn python the hard way
that was my first book on programming and i can recommend it
code academy's python section is good if you literally have no clue

>> No.6961737

If you just want to program a bit you can use the previously mentioned sources.

If you want to get into CS you should take a look at MIT opencoursework CS 101 (python) or SICP (Lisp), both available online.

>> No.6961742
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6961742

>>6961716

>> No.6961965

>>6961724
This. If you can't choose, I'll do it for you: Get Python (it's free) and do that course. I learned programming by just doing exercises. Some prefer to learn theory first, but for me: just writing a script that makes the computer say "Hello, World!" was the motivation I needed.

>> No.6961973

Yeah, I'd say just do exercises, try to find one that's more extensive and not just a small problem. The project that really taught me to program was trying to write a chess program that ran on the command line. It was from a book, and I never finished it, but by the time I had written a few hundred lines of code that all had to work together, I felt like I had cleared that initial hurdle and it's all been much easier since then.

>> No.6961982
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6961982

I'm not a robot
>please solve this trivial task for no pay
o-okay

>> No.6961998

Thanks for the replies everyone. I really appreciate the insight, I just got home from clearing out the last errands for the break. Other than family, I have about 12 hours to myself a day to learn with until jan 14th. I work for myself so I'm free to and do, listen to books while I work. Are the SICP lectures worth just listening to? I will get the SICP book and start the code academy and 'learnpythonthehardway' when i wake up tomorrow.

>> No.6962008

>>6961998
the SICP lectures are very good

>> No.6962011

>>6962008
I had forgotten about them as an option, i'm glad they were brought up in this thread

>> No.6962117

>>6961716
Watch course online from Berkeley or MIT. Scheme or python are good options. The most important thing is to pick a project and finish it. The Euler project has a series of increasingly difficult math problems that make good challenges.

So you learn, program the easier ones, even though you probably do them by hand with pen and paper. You can also try to more efficiently solve problems that you can solve with brute force